Protesters line up in front of Miami Dolphins facility, and Jeff Ireland responds

The Dolphins have left a lot of people scratching their heads this offseason by not making a big move for a quarterback, trading away Brandon Marshall and failing to sign any impact free agents.

Tuesday, a small but vocal group of fans decided they’ve had enough.

Armed with cardboard signs and paper bags to cover their heads, about 25 Dolphins fans gathered on the grass opposite the team’s training facility in Davie to protest the direction of the team, the ownership tactics of Stephen Ross and the current employment of general manager Jeff Ireland. One police officer kept watch over the group.

“Missing out on (Matt) Flynn, that really did it to us. We’re just sick of it,” said Evan Hirsch, a 25-year-old from Ft. Lauderdale who was one of the protest organizers. “Ireland and Ross is where most of the frustration is directed. It’s South Florida, it’s hard to mess this up, and they’ve figured it out.”

Many of the fans have grown frustrated that the Dolphins keep missing out on their top targets – coaches Jim Harbaugh and Jeff Fisher and quarterback Peyton Manning among them.

“We get our hopes up, and we just keep getting rejected,” said Matthew Cozzo, a 25-year-old from Pembroke Pines who also helped organize the protest. “I don’t know what the plan is. That’s what we want to know. We’re signing defensive tackles for millions of dollars and trading away receivers. We’re going bigger and slower instead of faster and better.”

A lot of fans are unhappy with GM Jeff Ireland for not adding any big pieces in free agency / Ben Volin, Post staff

“The hardest part is not having hope this year,” Hirsch said. “It’s depressing. Just give us some hope. That’s all we want.”

Ireland has been taking heat from every which way over the past couple of days, getting bashed by current players (Ryan Clark), former players (Joey Porter and Warren Sapp) and by the fans at Monday’s protest, not to mention the usual bashing that takes place in the media.

Actually it started at the 2011 season finale, when fans hired an airplane to fly a “Fire Jeff Ireland” banner above Sun Life Stadium before the game against the Jets.

Ireland said by phone Monday that “it goes with the job.”

“I know there are passionate fans out there, and they want results,” he said. “I would tell them, look, we don’t play until August. Let it run its course.”

As for not signing Flynn, Ireland didn’t say it directly but indicated that the Dolphins didn’t believe Flynn was worth the price. Flynn got $10 million guaranteed over three years from Seattle. “We’re not going to be reckless and give up far more than we think we’re getting in return, that goes for any position,” Ireland said.

Instead of Flynn or Manning, Ireland instead signed former Jaguars starter David Garrard, who was out of football last year after being cut by Jacksonville and having subsequent back surgery.

“Being scorned by Manning and then last night with David Garrard, I think David Garrard just added more fuel to the fire,” Cozzo said. “It’s just one thing after another. Ross and Ireland, I don’t know what they’re doing.”

But Ireland praised Garrard’s veteran leadership – he’s a nine-year veteran with five years as a starter – and said he will compete with Matt Moore for the starting job.

“He’s a proven leader, tough, adds excellent veteran depth and competition to the quarterback position,” Ireland said. “If you’re asking me right now what my feeling would be about the quarterback position as it stands today, I feel pretty good about it.”

Ireland also called the decision to trade Marshall “an all-in decision” between Ross, coach Joe Philbin and himself. Ireland also reiterated that the Dolphins are not rebuilding this year.

“I feel we have a strong nucleus in place,” Ireland said. “We’re not naïve to the fact that we need more pieces. We need to have another strong draft. But we’re only halfway through the player acquisition process. We didn’t get everything we wanted but we keep striving.”

Archives

Categories

Trackbacks

[…] upset. Upset enough to have a mini-protest rally in front of team headquarters on Tuesday. As the Palm Beach Post reports, about 25 fans showed up with signs proclaiming their desire for another general manager […]

[…] upset. Upset enough to have a mini-protest rally in front of team headquarters on Tuesday. As the Palm Beach Post reports, about 25 fans showed up with signs proclaiming their desire for another general manager […]